Philanthropist. Born in Philadelphia, he was educated at Alden Partridge's Military Academy in Vermont and was further trained in agricultural at the Sorbonne Paris, France. Upon his return to the US, he co-authored significant legislation to promote agricultural education and engaged in farming in South Carolina in the 1830s. Thomas became active in the federal government, served as the ambassador to Belgium under four U.S. presidents and in 1860, took an office under President Buchanan that later became recognized as the country's first Secretary of Agriculture. During the Civil War, he supported the Confederate States in the establishment of a department of agriculture and continued the improvement of agriculture for the states after the war. Upon his death, he donated his land and money to establish an agricultural college in South Carolina. The state established the Clemson University Agricultural College the following year, which was named in his honor in 1889. (bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)